NEW ISSUES FOR CHRISTMAS, HANUKKAH, KWANZAA

For this year's holiday season, the U.S. Postal Service offers redesigned 37-cent commemoratives featuring an art masterpiece for Christmas, a dreidel for Hanukkah, the seven principles for Kwanzaa and four Santa Claus Christmas ornaments.

The Christmas Madonna and Child painting by Lorenzo Monaco was dedicated Oct. 14 in New York City. The Hanukkah stamp was issued Oct. 15, also in New York. The Kwanzaa commemorative was dedicated Oct. 16 in Chicago. And the "Holiday Ornaments" stamps will be issued Nov. 16 in New York.

Christmas

Monaco's Madonna and Child is a tempera-on-panel from 1413. It's part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Monaco was born Piero di Giovanni around 1370, probably in Siena, Italy. In 1391, he took vows as a monk of the Camaldolese Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict in Florence, Italy. He also assumed the monastic name Lorenzo Monaco, or "Lorenzo the Monk."

Known for his exceptional artistic talent and skill, he did superb illuminated manuscripts, miniatures in choir books, paintings on panels and more.

Hanukkah

For the Hanukkah stamp art, director Ethel Kessler combined two elements in her design: the background type, designed by Greg Berger, and the dreidel photograph, by Elise Moore.

The dreidel is from the collection of Rabbi Lennard and Dr. Linda Thal, who purchased it in Jerusalem.

Hanukkah spans eight days and nights commemorating the successful Jewish revolt led by Judah Maccabee against the oppressive government of Antiochus IV in 165 B.C.

Kwanzaa

Art director Derry Noyes and artist Daniel Minter sought to create a design balancing formality with a festive mood. The seven days of Kwanzaa, and the principles they signify, are represented by seven figures in colorful robes. The seven principles -- unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith -- are based on values in African culture.

Kwanzaa is a non-religious observance from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. It draws on African traditions and takes its name from the Swahili phrase for "first fruits."

Ornaments

The ornaments on this set of four stamps were made in 1999 in Lauscha, Germany, for D. BlM-|mchen & Co. of Ridgewood, N.J., and were hand-painted by designer Diane S. Boyce.